


Out of Hawkins and Everywhere after that.

by NaomiTheDiplomaticWeeb



Series: Out of Hawkins and Everywhere after that. [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, On the Run, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 02, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 03:04:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17675228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaomiTheDiplomaticWeeb/pseuds/NaomiTheDiplomaticWeeb
Summary: One night Mike and El are forced to leave their home. Uncertain of when they will be home or if they ever will be. The future unclear they feel confident that they will get anywhere they need to go if El can read the map and Mike can drive the car.





	Out of Hawkins and Everywhere after that.

Indianna  
It had been a normal day in the late summer of 1986, the heat of the early months had passed and August brought chilled nights and the prospect of returning to high school. When Karen Wheeler had decided the party was forbidden from staying indoors that summer the party had turned to Castle Byers in order to play their campaigns. Though the space was small it was enough and the entire summer was spent there. Now with Max and El involved the party immersed themselves in the thrill of quests and campaigns where they could fight monsters without actually fearing for their lives.  
In addition to D&D campaigns Max who had gotten a full license began teaching the party to drive. Mike being the most proficient although that was probably because he knew El could prevent him from crashing not that he ever needed it. Learning in Billy’s car which had been confiscated from him and gifted to Max had such a dauntless aspect to it and in the car, he felt like an old time renegade. The car made him feel like he could just take El in it and the two would skip town and become fugitives.  
In the night when his parents were sleeping he would sneak out with Nancy’s keys and take her car.He and El would just drive around Hawkins pulling over to star gaze in the woods outside of town or even just leave to talk in complete privacy from the world. It was a mystery how neither Nancy nor his parents had noticed the nightly ritual, that or Nancy just didn’t care as long as the car came back.  
Lying in the grass of outside Mikes house El turned to him “Mike, tonight we should go to the cabin”. The cabin where Hopper had hidden her had been empty for the past few months when El and her adoptive father moved back into Hawkins with a sense of security. “Why,” Mike asked, she shrugged her shoulders “ Hoppers on date night with Joyce he won’t notice I’m gone we can come back before your dad goes to work”.  
It wouldn’t be the first time the two had almost accidentally stayed out and gotten caught so Mike was optimistic that they surely could pull it off. “ Yeah I guess that’ll work and yeah you still haven’t watched Gremlins” he replied poking her slightly “ Be at your window at like One a.m and Ill pick you up you sure Hopper won’t be around ?” . El shook her head “ Don’t think so he gets back from date night about 11 and he will be asleep I’ll make the lights turn off in your room if there’s a change in plan okay? “  
Mike smiled the summer had been a blessing the first summer without any occurrences or supernatural happenings it was as if he and El were just any ordinary teenage couple. Date nights and curfews and sneaking out after curfews it had been like a dream. Mikes parents not knowing about her added to the thrill. Hopper and Joyce were confident that they would not recognize her from the single photo they had seen of her as a child. She no longer sported the buzz cut and her face had lost much of its baby fat they were still wary however of Karen and Ted and the government. This caused Mike to decide that if his parents did ever ask she would be Jane Hopper whom he had only met this summer. Not that his parents would have paid enough attention to him to ask.  
Getting up from the grass El began to stretch her arms “ We should go find Dustin his moms making chocolate brownies today” , “ How did you know that” Mike asked her with a smirk. Grinning El turned back to him “ I listened into his supercom with Will, he’s a bit annoyed that the party has gone from four to six and yet his moms baking tray has stayed the same size”. “Did I ever tell you how amazing it is to have a girlfriend like you” he joked as he stood up to join her. El shook her head “ Nah your only saying that because I can get you chocolate” the two laughed getting on their bikes and began riding to Dustin’s house where they knew he would not be impressed.

 

Coming in home just after six Mike was content, he had amazing friends , a terrific girlfriend and nothing seemed like it could go wrong. There was also the fact that this year he and El were going to be in high school together . Sure she would be there under the name Jane Hopper but it was exciting. Only he and the party would know Eleven and who she was and what she capable of . She would be able to make friends who didn’t know about her childhood in the lab. The two of them could hold hands in class and be lab partners and do math homework together and struggle to learn French together. Not that he wanted to brag or anything either but he looked forward to seeing Troy’s face when Mike Wheeler was the one with a girlfriend. She would just be Jim Hopper's bastard daughter from Indianapolis, a controversy in itself really. The story would go that Jim had had a one night stand in Indianapolis but the lady content that she and Jim would be together named her daughter with his name. Jim would skip town days after his daughter’s birth saying that he couldn’t do it. The mother would go on to die tragically in a house fire leaving Jim with his daughter he never met.  
Lying back on his bed he relaxed knowing this year was going to be perfect and they were going to do it together. Tonight he would go to sleep just after nine sleep until twelve thirty and then collect El. He had gotten so used to sleeping in intervals he forgot that most people have eight hours sleep at once. So lost in his thoughts he didn’t notice Nancy standing in his doorway. “ Hey Mike dinners ready,” she said impatiently “you’ll need your strength for all your joy riding right” . His pupils doubling in size he turned to her “Wait how did you know about that Nancy” . Nancy scoffed coming into his room “ Oh come on you think I don’t have my own secrets I was coming home with Jonathon the other night and I caught you and Eleven kissing in it down the street. And also I heard her asking you to take her out tonight”. Swearing to himself that his sister and heard of his plans Mike cringed knowing she had seen that and began to turn bright red “Listen, Nancy don’t freak out I know how to drive, Max thought me how and she has a license and she said I was good and El wa..”. Nancy interrupted him before he could finish ” Mike its fine I’m not going to tell Mom just don’t do it again Im going away with Ali and the girls for the weekend and I don’t want to worry about my car” . Mike released a breath “Okay I won’t take it again”.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Nancy would surely understand why he was taking her car again and if she did he didn’t he care. She was half way to Kentucky with her friends wasn’t like she was going to catch him. “Did she actually believe I wasn’t going to take it” Mike laughed to himself. Was his sister really that gullible to think he a fifteen year old boy would respect a simple “please don’t do it again”. If his parents had caught him that would be a different story but they were as uninvolved as ever. It was his Dads over controlling behavior with her driving that made stealing her car so easy in the first place. Ted insisted that she leave her keys on the kitchen counter every night so he would hear her go downstairs if she tried to get them. Ted was not a very light sleeper so that plan was out the window. As well as that the driveway was too small for two cars so obviously the space went to ted wheeler and the car had to be parked across the street. It was as if Ted was asking for Mike to steal it. Slightly nervous Mike began to come up Els street just like El had said Hopper's jeep was in the drive. Home from his date and lulled to sleep from whatever he had drank Hopper was not going to wake up and ruin their evening. Gremlins, Back to the future and Star Wars on VHS or maybe even just talking, Mike knew they would not be able to do this anymore once Nancy went back to college and took the car with her .Sometimes he and El would go the cabin with the aims of a movie night and just end up sleeping on the couch. That was how they were almost caught a month earlier.  
They had forgotten to set an alarm clock and woke confused and disorientated at 6.30 in the morning. Ted Wheeler would be out at 7 and thus was the panic of speeding El to the bottom of her street followed by the rush to his own house. Just when Mike got the car in park he saw the front door of his house open. Naturally, he ducked beneath the steering wheel and hoped his dad did not see him which thankfully he didn’t . Still Mike would take nights like that in comparison to not seeing her at all, there would also be the issue of having school again which meant getting up at 7 am very different to his current get in at home at 5 am and sleeping until 12. Hopper and El had just moved into this house about two weeks ago and Mike was careful to make sure he went to the right window and didn’t accidentally tap on Hoppers which would surely ruin their evening. Without any need for clarification, El jumped out the window .Her backpack rustling as she hit the ground “ What you got in there” Mike asked even though he was already very aware. With a toothy grin El unzipped the bar , Eggos , Canned whipped cream , smarties, maple syrup “ I thought we would need food” El laughed as she began making her way down the drive and into Nancy’s car.  
“ So Nancy knows we took the car” Mike said as they drove out of the town to find the country road leading to the cabin “ She came into my room and told me to stop taking it”. “Which you clearly listened very carefully too” El replied. “Hey we’re teenagers aren’t we supposed to do shit like this Sneaking away and grand theft auto” he joked back at her they were maybe five miniuts from the cabin now and El was relaxed next to him. Her feet on the dash and hand on his thigh as they drove with the radio quietly playing whatever crap cassette Nancy had left in it. Stopping the car the two were ready to make the hike up to the cabin. That’s when everything went wrong.  
From behind the shrubbery at the bottom of the hill where they would hide the car they saw him . Hair still white and slicked back in a three-piece suit he was standing at the top of the hill smoking. Mike had never met him but he knew from her stories that he was pure evil. The fear in her eyes had almost paralyzed her. Ducking under the tree’s they heard him as he spoke to a colleague.  
His face was that of nightmares sly and manipulative the monster who had hurt El. The monster who convinced her she was a monster he was everything Mike had expected and so much more. Surrounded by goons in hazmat suits they were looking for her not knowing she was only a stone’s throw away. They had the capability to destroy her life in that moment and Mike was not going to let that happen.  
“Place seems occupied so I assume she has been here recently, have the trucks been dispatched for the cops new place and the other kids ?” Brenner asked taking along drag on his cigar. People were marching carrying boxes out of the Cabin taking what Mike recognized as Els clothes and television and other belongings. An unknown man came out of the cabin “ We found a Polaroid of her and that kid who housed her the last time we just sent the boys towards his” . Brenner nodded his head “ He probably knows where Eleven is, put surveillance on the kid's house for the next few days”. This was the final blow. Without even thinking and acting on sheer impulse alone Mike had shoved El back into the car where he was suddenly back behind the wheel.  
Thanking Max for giving him the confidence to drive without headlights and the ability to stay calm he as subtly as possible began to reverse back onto the road. Hoping they hadn’t seen him , hoping they hadn’t seen El . Would they believe that the car they heard on the drive way was just any other car on the road that night. But who drives here at quarter past one in the morning. How dare they come to kidnap her . How there they be making their way to his house in search of her. They knew about Hoppers new place or maybe they meant his old place he didn’t know. All he knew was Hawkins was not safe and the carefree summer was over.

 

“Fuck- Fuck-Shit Fuck-Fuck” Mike was rambling as he drove the opposite direction of Hawkins towards nowhere in particular. El still frozen beside him was still processing what had happened, how did he find her and why was he here she knew he wasn’t dead but he should not have been so well and conscious, he knew every possible place to look for her .Did he think she lived in the cabin or did he know her and Mike were going there tonight surely they just thought she still lived there. They must have thought there was no way Hopper would move her in with him. She turned towards Mike who was still swearing repeatedly as he continued driving. “ We can’t go home El , we can’t go anywhere they know where to look for you” , his eyes were beginning to water his hands were shaking and he seemed like he could hardly keep going .  
El inhaled deeply she had always feared that something like this could happen and she knew what to do.”Mike stop the car” she said pained. With that he came to a halt at this stage he was clearly crying. The image of him fresh in her mind, it festered her insides. It made her heart beat three times to fast and her lungs feel like they were never going to receive a sufficient amount of air again.  
Her hands shaking and eyes watering she took in a deep breath. She had prepared for this situation and knew what she would need to do if it came to this . After Kali had made her see her own personal demon two years ago she had began preparing for if he returned to her life. She did not remember how she got back into the car with Mike.  
One minute they were smiling and getting ready for the hike up to the cabin for cuddles and to watch Gremlins the next her worst nightmare was coming through. El looked over at Mike the sheer terror bleeding through every nerve in his body.  
“They’re trying to take you again El what are we going to do” he cried . She reached into him pulling him towards her . Holding him like it was for their lives she felt her own tears fall onto his shoulders, everything they had worked so hard for, gone. The life that Hopper had tried to make for her Brenner had destroyed it all in a matter of minuits. She couldn’t go back to Hopper now “ Mike I know where to go .  
Mike turned to her “Okay , okay but I’m going to come with you”. El looked back at him “ Mike it won’t be safe you” he didn’t let her finish “El I don’t give a shit I’m coming with you I’m not waiting in fear of never seeing you again and I’m not going to just go home and have those guys snoop around my house when I know you’re in danger. I love you El, I love you and I’m coming!”.  
That had been the first time he had ever said the L word. She knew he felt it , she felt it too but to hear it out loud almost brought clarity to this moment. He was going to stay with her . It would be the two of them versus the world .Tonight though they would just get as far away as they could. El turned to Mike still with tears in her eyes “Okay Mike , you and me”.  
Mike began to laugh strange for the turbulent situation but a nervous laugh “ you and me” he repeated rubbing the tears from his eyes.” I know where we can go but its far” she said in a whisper so quiet he could barely hear her. He didn’t care how far it was as long as he could keep her safe “ We need to find my sister Kali she’s in Nevada”.  
Nevada of all places Els sister had to be in Nevada. She couldn’t stay in Chicago or even New York or Washington D.C all would be better but Nevada the other side of the country. The drive would take them days . Two fifteen year olds no license, no ID, no money , a stolen car , fugitives, running from the government but god be damned they were going to make it to Nevada.  
Mike knew his dad had prepared Nancy for the worst the last time she took the car out of town to Kentucky. Ted Wheeler distant as he was with his kids was still concerned for their safety and with that there was an emergency kit in the boot of the car. Still on the side of the country road a few miles from the cabin, Mike felt safe enough to leave the car to get it.  
A map book of the U.S , a blanket ,a first aid kit jumper cables , a flashlight , other car utensils , a bottle of water and to Mikes surprise at the very bottom of the box an envelope. The envelope had a list of emergency contact numbers of family and roadside assistance and inside it fifty dollars. Nancy really should have looked through Teds emergency kit but her fault was now his and El’s gain. Mike inhaled they had been parked along time and he was cautious to get a lot of driving done while it was quiet. He passed the book of Maps to El who was sipping the bottle of water the blanket wrapped tightly around her. “ Alright El heres the plans , I’m going to start driving towards Lafayette which I know is the nearest town we’ll pull in there and figure out what we’re doing from there , okay”. El looked back at him the shock finally beginning to leave her system. She had been to Lafayette once before with Nancy when Nancy was prom dress shopping. Such a happy memory but now they travelled there under such different circumstances.  
As they drove further and further away from Hawkins it truly began to sink in . Leaving Nancy , leaving Joyce and the party and worst of all leaving Hop no leaving her father Jim Hopper. Mike urged her to try sleep during this short journey as he would need her reading a map to him once they left the safety and familiarity of Indiana’s roads but every time she closed her eyes his image came back. Haunting her, every time she saw him she only pulled the blanket closer to her body. He made her feel like a little girl again . Small and afraid and unsure of herself , but she wasn’t that girl anymore she was stronger and she had a plan. Shortly after three am they arrived at a Denny’s in the neighboring Indiana town of Lafayette.  
This was the furthest Mike had ever drove and he felt it but he also felt the pride that he was able to get his girlfriend away from that awful situation, physically at least. Turning to her Mike was pleased that she had dozed off. Mike had seen her asleep many times but never like this however. There was no peace in her face and she looked so uncomfortable and frightened when she started to cry in her sleep he realized she must be having a nightmare.  
“El” he said softly holding her arm, She shook awake tears once again falling down her face. “Mike you’re here thank you for being here” she cried as he wrapped his arms around her The blanket which she felt was keeping her safe slipping being replaced by his arms. He placed a gentle kiss to her cheek before rubbing away her tears. “It’ll be okay El , I’m always going to be here”. With a reassured nod the two of them left the car to enter Denny ’s, and form a plan. 

Denny’s was strangely lively filled with a crowd who had just left a local rave so the two teens were able to slip into the back and be relatively unnoticed. Mike ordered two coffees, they were going to need it and thanked the lord for Denny’s doing free refills because fifty dollars would not be a lot of gas money, scratch that 48 dollars would not be a lot of gas money.  
They two decided that they would drive as far as Davenport tonight, wanting to get as much mileage as possible before their parents realized they were gone. Not being able to afford Hotels to spend the night in and being aware of the need for sleep they would find a public library in Davenport find one of those study rooms which were always empty during the summer and sleep. Mike was a very light sleeper as was El so they were confident it would be safe to rest their eyes. This would be the plan rest in public libraries in three to four hour intervals and drive through the night.  
On their second cup of coffee, the two continued using Teds map book making a list on a napkin of all the towns they would go through over the next few days as a means of making sure they stayed en route. The Denny’s was still busy with the post rave crowd none seeming anymore sober than they had an hour ago. “I’m going to the bathroom,” El said putting on Mikes jacket as she stood up from their small booth. Mike nodded at her as he continued mapping and making notes all the while worrying what they would do when teds money ran out. They couldn’t just beg, the police would get called. Maybe they could ask for small amounts of money, neither of them looked dirty or like street kids. They could make up excuses like oh Im short money for my bus , my mom sent me to the store for milk and I lost the money.  
Scrabbling ideas through his head Mike remembered the issue of food. El only had junk food in her backpack and that would not get them far. He noticed the booth next to them had been vacated minutes earlier and due to the rush nobody had come to clean it. Slipping out of his seat he noticed the previous occupants had not been hungry and there was still half a burger, two half portions of fries and almost a full hotdog. It will do , Mike thought to himself as he quickly put all the food on one plate and brought it back to he and El’s table. The coffee continuing to give him new life.  
As El made her way to the bathroom she had an idea. It wasn’t the kindest idea but it was necessary. The occupants of Denys all inebriated were not at their most aware and El was glad of two things. One, on that night due to the amount of drunkards inclined to dine and ditch the restaurant was having a pay before you eat policy, perfect. Secondly El was small and could easily go very unnoticed.  
In the bathroom as she heard a girl violently vomiting. Another girl soothing the vomiting girl two purses were dropped on the floor, defiantly dropped as the girl ran to the cubicle to be sick. The first purse El opened did not have much. There was about twenty dollars and an ID card , the ID was of no use the owner a twenty three year old would not in a million years pass for El. She took the money though mentally apologizing to Erica Adams for stealing twenty dollars.  
Then there was the second purse which had a full wallet in it .El had hit the jackpot first she looked at the ID , Monica Moore nineteen years old . Monica had sallow skin like El and brown eyes like El the only problem was Monica’s blonde hair. El shook her head , it would do. She heard one of the girls continue to vomit and removed the ID from Monica’s purse along with ninety four dollars.  
El slipped out of the bathroom to nobody’s attention lest Monica or Erica notice their missing money which she doubted they would until the morning. None the less she wanted to remove herself from the situation. As she made her way back to her and Mike’s booths she saw him. Just as Monica had looked enough like El this drunk man attempting to flirt with a girl looked enough like Mike. Brown eyes, pale skin, freckles and a youthful appearance.  
The man so deep in conversation with the girl in front of him as he leaned in to kiss her was completely unaware when the stitches of his pocket came loose and his wallet slid across the floor a couple of feet to under her and Mikes tables where Mike was still buried in his maps. “Hi” she said sliding back into the booth giving him a shy smile. “ Hey” Mike replied “ Listen this is kind of disgusting but we don’t have a lot of money so I took this half eaten food from the other table , it’s still warm and they didn’t look diseased so you should eat”. El gave a nod beginning to eat the fries as the two of them finished their coffees finally feeling energized enough to drive .Using her powers El lifted the wallet from her feet delivering it to her pocket. Here to hoping the guy who was fully making out against the wall a few feet away had a driver’s license.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You really think they look enough like us” Mike said strapping himself back into Nancy’s car just after 4 in the morning. El nodded leaning into him “Well I’m going to need to colour my hair but I think I can pass for nineteen and he’s only eighteen”. God bless underage drinking in middle America and Mike for being so god damn tall.  
Kevin Cleary did look enough like Mike she thought to herself he looked like he could be Mike’s older brother. “You’re gonna need to cut your hair though” El said scrunching her nose to one side as she played with the ends of his hair “ And we're gonna need to get some fake glasses” she added. There would be tolls on the way to Nevada where they feared they could be asked for license due to being so youthful. Kevin had forty dollars bringing their haul up to nearly two hundred dollars including Ted’s money. “It should be enough,” said Mike looking to her “ “We’ll continue to Davenport, get some sleep , get makeovers because come mid day tomorrow the police are going to start looking for us” Mike said to her in the calmest voice he had used all night. “ I think Mom and Dad don’t know Nancy didn’t drive to Kentucky because they went on date night before she left so hopefully we have three days before they start looking for the car, she’s gone camping so they won’t be able to contact her”.  
El continued nodding to the information; she truly was blessed with Mike. Her boyfriend who abandoned his family and his life to keep her safe. Who was illegally driving them to the other side of the country who was risking everything for her. It was just gone four in the morning, so much had happened in the last three hours. It would be another few hours before their parents realized they were gone. The Wheelers and Hop would probably both assume they had gone out early to see each other. El knew though that come lunch time they party would begin to look for them and come dinner time their parents would know the kids were gone. The Wheelers had no idea Mike could drive so hopefully they would limit their search to Hawkins while awaiting Nancy’s return. They needed to get to Kali soon though because Brenner could be travelling too ,and looking for her. He had seen the Polaroid photo of her and Mike so he knew he wasn’t looking for a little bald girl , he knew how they currently looked which only furthered the need to change it. With the map book laid out on her lap it would be an easy enough drive to Davenport. Mike put on his seat belt and prepared to start the car before he could though El pulled him in to kiss him “I love you Mike” she said. It was her first time saying it out loud to him and these were not the circumstances she imagined it in. Wide eyed he kissed her back “ I love you too El now let’s go”.

**Author's Note:**

> My plan for this is for everywhere chapter to take place in a new city or setting and for the two to travel as they grow. I was really inspired by End of the F****ing world for the appearances they take on but still could see these being disguises they would go for. Please give me feedback and let me know if I should continue.
> 
> All the best  
> Naomi :)


End file.
